Death

As we walk, I keep my eyes on Zada. I'm relieved that her arm is healing; it dials down my guilt dramatically. She occasionally looks back and asks me a question about where we are going and what we are doing, so she can answer Raven's questions. She acts as if we've known each other forever, as if I didn't try and kill her.

I like that.

"Death?" She turns around and walks backwards, laughing at something Raven previously said. She gives me a smug look and asks, "What would you do if one of us tried to escape?"

"Well, that depends," I reply. "If it were you, I would most likely rip you arm clean off and keep you alive. However Raven…" I narrow my eyes in a playful way at the new prisoner. Her face floods red and she refuses to make eye contact with anyone.

All of the others start laughing at her embarrassment, and Zada looks back at me. "Oh, so I get special treatment, hmm?"

I chuckle and shake my head, smiling behind my mask. "Only you."

Her smile is knocked off immediately as she breaks eye contact and turns back around, her face now bright red along with Raven. I don't understand them; what on earth they find so interesting in me? I brush off the urge to question. After a few minutes of her silence, she returned to talking and laughing with Raven and Veil. I ignore their words and begin to lose myself in my own thoughts.

"Brother?" Strife walks up to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "You're mumbling."

I shove his hand away and keep walking, being diligent to keep quiet now. The next few hours go by uneventful, besides the girls talking about their strange tastes in music in which I still find odd. When the sky starts getting dark, we stop and take shelter in an abandoned facility of some sort, for a blizzard is on its way, and I don't want any of them freezing.

I make a fire in the middle of the room. When it starts blazing, I stand against the East wall- the one closest to the fire- and watch the three girls and my younger brother. Veil is leaning against Strife with one of her hands on his. I chuckle at him, because never in all my years have I seen him so… happy. He's always use sarcasm and humor to hide his loneliness. Before the slaughter, War, Fury, and even myself all were accompanied with mates. Strife wasn't.

Raven pulls out a device similar to Zada's and starts playing music. When the first song starts playing, her face lights up. "Icon For Hire?" She says excitedly. I have no idea what she meant by those words, but I didn't question it.

"Do you know that lyrics?" Raven asks hopefully.

"Hell yes!" and she starts singing along. "I don't wanna say what I got on my mind, 'couse nothing tonight wants to come out on time. The truth is I'd rather sit out and unwind, let somebody else tell their story this time. I wonder what happened to give me the right, to step on a platform and pick up a mic, and tell you the way to be living your live, 'cause all my credentials are lies."

I'm amazed by her talent. She can sing very well, but she is so quiet that I can just barely hear it. I smile behind my mask and cross my arms.

"I'll probably end up in flames before the end of the night. Watch me burn in the fire, watch me bid you goodbye. Your words fall right off the page, like they fall off deaf ears. You know that it's over, nothing left for you here-"

"Is there a way to turn your volume up?" I ask, and everyone looks at me. She blushes and lets her hair fall over her eyes. Raven, Veil, and Strife all laugh at her embarrassment. The next song begins. The sound of an acoustic guitar rings out, and Veil laughs.

"I can see you singing this, Strife." She giggles.

"I could try," He grabs the device, clicking random buttons to try and figure it out. Veil smiles and takes it from him, clicked a few times, and hands it back.

"There are the lyrics."

"Well, aren't you fast?"

I roll my eyes and sit down against the wall. I haven't slept in a while' being a Horseman, I can go months at a time without rest, but I do still in fact need it. I decide to rest now and get the state of weakness over with. Strife, being the most secretive of my brothers, beings to sing in a way intended to make the others laugh, and he does so surprisingly well. Just another thing I didn't know about him.

I close my eyes. With my arms crosses, I fall into a deep sleep.

Xxxxxxxx

Zada

It seems to be midnight or so. Everyone else has fallen asleep, even Strife and Death. I can't sleep. To keep from waking the others, I plug in my headphones and listen to music, the volume as loud as it can possibly go.

"If there is a place that I could be, then I'd be another memory. Can I be the only hope for you, because you're the only hope for me. And if we can't find where we belong, we'll have to make it on our own, face the pain and take it on, because the only hope for me is you alone…"

I smile and glance over to Death, who is sleeping. I remember back before all of this, whenever I heard a song with even the slightest bit of romance, such as the one I'm listening to now, I would always think of Death. Whenever I would watch a romantic movie at Veil's home, purely so we could mock it, I would think of Death. Hell, whenever I saw a leaf blowing in the wind, I would think of Death.

And I love the guy, I really do. Just in the way where he is my idol, nothing more.

In the midst of my deep thought, his eyes snap open, scaring me half to death. I turn my attention back to the fire one second too late. The awkward tension makes me want to cringe, but all I do is freeze. Randomly without thought, I turn the volume down.

He walks over and sits next to me.

My heart starts beating so loudly in my ears that it is pointless to keep listening to music. I hit pause and take my headphones off. The silence around us surprises me, since it's been so loud in my mind. "You should rest," Death inquires in a husky voice from being asleep. I clamp my hand over my mouth, holding back laughter. The entire time I've been obsessed with Death, I've dreamed of hearing his voice sound like that. He looks at me with confusion and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright?"

I take a few deep breaths. "Nothing… just… fangirling…" His confusion makes me laugh quietly.

"I don't understand."

"Your voice! It's giving me a… adrenalin rush, if you may."

"Um… I'm sorry?"

"It's fine," I say, laughing awkwardly. He took his hand off my shoulder and we stare into the fire.

"You should get some rest for tomorrow."

I shrug and refrain from making eye contact. "I can't sleep."

"Why?"

"I just can't."

"That's not a logical answer." He chuckles.

"You're Death! Nothing is logical for the likes of you," I retort, and we both laugh.

"…If you're up for it, I can begin your training now."

I lift my head up and look at him. I really wasn't expecting him to say that. He shrugs casually and looks back down at the fire. I smile and say, "If you take it easy on my arm… then I suppose…"

"Gladly." He agrees. I stand up and keep my head down, pulling the sleeves of my sweatshirt over my fists and setting them over my lips. It's an odd habit, but I honestly couldn't care any less. "We need to find you a make-shift weapon to begin with. Start looking.

I don't question his orders. I begin to look around the factory, and I find nothing on the level that we are on. I stumble upon a staircase in the back corner of the room. Hesitantly, I walk down. At the bottom, it is pitch black, but I run my hands over the walls until I find a light switch. I turn it on.

It flickers for a moment before coming on completely. I'm surprised with what I see. It is a closet full of miscellaneous objects- including weapons like machete's, axes, and even scythes. Packed on the shelves are hundreds of cans of food, which I know will come in handy later. In the corner of my eye, I also see a variety of musical instruments, including a bass, violin, and an acoustic guitar. I walk over to them, picking up the violin. I learned to play when I was thirteen, both out of sheer boredom and the fact that I loved the sound, and still do. I put the bow to the strings and randomly start playing different songs I learned to play by listening to it over and over again.

After a while, I start getting a bit carried away and end up randomly maneuvering throughout the small room as I play. Doing so makes me completely unaware that Death is watching me. I spin once and see him in the corner of my eye. I stop playing, putting both the violin and the bow to my sides.

"So, tell me. Why is it that whenever you are expressing a talent I didn't know you had, and when I try to watch, you stop?"

"I-I don't know, I-It's…" I sound like an idiot. "It's not a talent."

He bobs his head back in laughter. "You can sing and play whatever in the nine hells that is," he points to the violin. "Now, what I'd find interesting is if you could do both simultaneously."

I glare at him in annoyance, but then I consider it. I'm going to prison anyway, so why hide it? With an awkward, unbreakable eye contact, I start playing again, but this time I sing along. As he does is watch, his emotions not changing. As soon as it's over, I look away and set the violin back in the corner. He hasn't made a sound, so I don't think he has moved. But, of course, since he is freaking silent whenever he does anything, when I turn around, he is right behind me.

In embarrassment, I start mumbling. "My goodness. How on earth are you so damn quiet, you're going to give me a heart attack-"

He tries to get closer, which makes me uncomfortable. I back away until my back is up against one of the far walls. Death presses his hands to it, one on each side of me. I glare at him with an angered look, but in reality, I'm scared out of my mind.

"Death, back up." I snap, but he doesn't listen.

"Isn't this what you've always dreamed of?"

"Yes," I blush. "But still. Back up." he moves closer, gently grabbing a lock of my hair. "...Death. Back. The. Hell. Up."

I swear, sometimes I think he is deaf. He doesn't back up. Instead, he leans forward and sets the forehead of his mask on mine. "And if I refuse?"

I feel like I'm going to pass out. "B-b-back..." I can't finish my thought, making him chuckle. My heart is beating in my ears so loudly, I feel like he can hear it. I still try and finish what I'm trying to say in a whisper, but all I can manage is random syllables. I close my eyes and try to calm myself down. He wraps one arm around my waist in an attempt to pull me closer, but I yelp and push him away. He's just laughing, apparently because the face that I'm uncomfortable is amusing.

"I see you found some weapons," Death points out. "In the morning, we will have the others choose one, but you might as well do so now." I nod and look down, avoiding any eye contact as I walk over to the weapons, running my fingers over each. Eventually, I choose the scythes, which look like a pair of twigs compared to Death's. "Good choice, I suppose. It will be simpler for me to teach you. Come."

I follow him back upstairs. The other three are still asleep, so Death sets a few more logs on the fire, and then we walk up another set of stairs to reach a large open area on the second level. I walk to the middle of the room, which is almost completely black if it weren't for the fire downstairs. Death flicks on a light, and it stays flickering the entire time. I'm about to turn around, but he comes up and sets his hand on my shoulder. I quickly spin around and back away.

"Relax." He tells me, taking a step back. Hesitantly, he grabs my hands and helps me hold the scythes properly. I let him without comment, and when he is done, he shows me how to wield them for hours. Around three in the morning, I feel like I'm going to collapse of exhaustion, but I try and keep myself up. Not even fifteen minutes later, Death realizes it.

"Are you alright?" He asks, and I shake my head.

"I'm fine… I think." I reply, walking towards the stairs, shivering madly. The fact that the temperature is probably in the single digits is now getting to me. "I… I'm going to get some sleep…"

"By all means." He chuckles, following me down the stairs. I sit down in front of the fire, grabbing Raven's bag and grabbing an extra sweatshirt to keep myself warm. Death adds few more logs to the fire and sits down. I wrap my arms around my legs, setting my cheek on my knee. Just before I fall asleep, Death scoots closer. "I can't stand to see you cold, damn it." He mutters. Very gently, he wraps his arms around me and sets my head on his chest. Despite the little fact that he is Death… he is warm. By the time I realize that my idol is hugging me, I am in a deep sleep.

A/N:
Hey, guys.
I'm sorry for such a looooong update. I feel like it's been forever! :D I was originally planning to make this chapter a bit longer, but I just thought what the hell and decided to post what I have written. By the way, if you guys are curious and want to check out my strange taste in music, then all of the song links I've used in my fics are all posted in my profile page.
And again, I only mention them and use the lyrics so I can help out my favorite bands. :)
Alright. I think that's it. I feel like Zada right now, since it's one in the morning. I'm going to go get some sleep. Hope you guys like the chapter. X3